THE LANGUAGE GAP. Increased national and international radio and television coverage of basketball has produced many different terms.If you are in tune with the game, you know what "nothing but the bottom of the net" means; although Dr. Naismith, the man who invented the game, might have trouble understanding that this means a successful field goal. Maybe you are trying to decode the word "carom." That term is slang for the recovery of a missed field-goal attempt and more commonly called a rebound. And just in case you are thinking the word "assist" is limited to your favorite shortstop or hockey player, be advised that an assist is credited to the player whose pass to a teammate led directly to a field goal.
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Front lunge Emphasis: quads, hams, glutes Begin by standing with your legs slightly apart, holding dumbbells at your sides. Keeping your pelvis directly under your shoulders, take a large step forward, bending your front knee to a 90-degree angle with your thigh parallel to the floor. Your back leg should be somewhat bent, with your knee almost touching the floor. With your weight on your front heel, contract the quad, hamstrings and glutes to push back up to the starting position. Repeat, alternating sides.
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Hammer curlGrasp a pair of dumbbells and stand with your knees slightly bent, hands by your sides, palms facing in. Curl the weight in your left hand toward your shoulder, but don't rotate your wrists as you did in the standing dumbbell curl; the top plate of the dumbbell should face up throughout the movement. Lower your left arm, then bring your right arm up and continue this alternating pattern. Keep your elbows stationary throughout.

Triceps dipSit on a coffee table or low chair and place your hands directly outside your hips, fingers facing forward. Walk your feet a couple of steps away, slide your glutes off the table and lower your body so that your arms form 90-degree angles. Press up and contract your triceps at the top, then repeat, keeping your low back and hips close to the table. The closer your feet are to your body, the easier the exercise is.

Push-upEmphasis: pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, triceps Lie facedown on the floor with your hands flat on the ground, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, fingers pointing forward. Push your bodyweight off the ground by straightening your elbows, keeping your abdominals tight and body in a perfect line, supported on your hands and toes. Bend your elbows and lower your chest until your elbows form 90-degree angles and point out to the sides. (Don't allow your chest to touch the floor.) Hold for a count, then contract your chest and push back up. Repeat. Tip: If you don't have enough upper-body strength to perform this exercise, follow the same instructions but keep your knees bent on the floor during the entire movement. This will allow you to perform the exercise with less resistance.
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Bent-over lateral raiseEmphasis: posterior deltoids and middle trapezius Sit and bend forward at your hips so your chest is as close to your thighs as is comfortable. Hold dumbbells under your legs with your palms facing each other and your elbows slightly bent. Keep your head in a neutral position by looking at a spot on the floor that's about 6 inches in front of you. Lift the weights out to your sides to shoulder level while keeping that slight bend in your elbows. Lower slowly and repeat. Tip: For maximum contraction in your posterior delts, focus on using only that muscle to move the weights. If you don't concentrate on using your posterior delts to move the resistance, your powerful mid-back muscles will come into play, reducing the effectiveness of this exercise.
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Crunch Lie faceup with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, or knees at 90 degrees in the air (shown at right) or resting up on a bench. Be sure that your lower back is pressed firmly into the floor. Touch your hands behind your head, exhale and curl your upper back toward your hips, lifting your shoulder blades off the floor.
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The team that controls the boards wins the majority of their games! Control of the boards reduces the number of shots taken by the opponents and increases the number of shot attempts by the good rebounding team. It also increases the number of fast break opportunities.

Though a great deal of rebounding is dependent on the size of a team, size alone does not result in backboard control. If you work diligently in practice, techniques will be developed that will lead to successful rebounding on both the offensive and defensive boards.

The most common basketball injury is the ankle sprain which is an injury to the ligaments on the outside or inside of the ankle joint This injury, commonly referred to as ankle "pulls" or "rolling" the ankle, often occurs when a player lands on another player's foot or the ankle rolls too far outward. When this happens, the ligaments connecting bones and supporting the ankle are stretched and torn. The ligaments can tear partially or completely.
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